Funding issues could put brakes on traffic devices

Athens-Clarke County commissioners unanimously agreed Thursday that they should revive the county's neighborhood traffic management program, but questioned how to pay for it.

The six commissioners who spoke on the topic at Thursday night's agenda-setting meeting all said they disliked a provision that would require neighborhood homeowners to pay half the cost of installing traffic-calming devices like speed humps.

However, they disagreed on whether to move ahead with the program, see how it works and possibly revise it in a year, or to scrap it and start over again.

Commissioner Alice Kinman said she's worried that if residents have to pay half, they'll opt for speed humps - usually the cheapest option at $5,000 each - over more expensive but better-looking and less-annoying options like traffic circles.

"The one-size-fits-all mechanism for funding is a problem," she said.

But Commissioner Kathy Hoard - who like Kinman represents the Five Points neighborhood where much of the clamor for traffic-calming is centered - said speed humps are better than nothing.

"It might descend into a speed hump program, but I have a lot of folks who would like to descend there at this time," Hoard said.

If the commission approves the program as-is and the county agrees next year to pay the entire cost of installing traffic-calming devices, as Kinman proposed, neighborhoods who sign on this year could feel slighted, Commissioner Elton Dodson said.

Commissioner David Lynn said he supports the program, but would like to include the amount of cut-through traffic as a criterium in deciding where to calm traffic.

A previous version of the program, discontinued in 2003, included cut-through traffic, but residents and officials sometimes disagreed on how many cars on certain roads were driven by residents, and how many used it as a shortcut between major thoroughfares.

And Commissioner George Maxwell said some of his low-income constituents also want traffic calming, but can't afford to pay half the cost, especially since in areas with low home-ownership rates, individual homeowners would pay a bigger share each.

As a solution, Hoard proposed that the commission add to the $75,000 budgeted this year for traffic calming.

"If we want it to be everything we want it to be, I think we ought to cough up a lot more loose change," she said.

Maxwell said police should better enforce the speed limit on busy residential roads like Rocksprings Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, though police are barred by state law from using radar on residential side streets.